He might be a trendsetter when it comes to translating movies in Uganda but that doesn’t mean he’s exempted from being jailed. VJ Junior, real names Mary Smarts Matovu was arrested yesterday at the Uganda Registration Service Bureau (URSB) enforcement Unit headquarters.
This was after VJ Junior had gone to negotiate for the release of some people who were arrested and material that was confiscated yesterday when Zai Plaza was raided by the enforcement unit of Uganda Federation of Movie Industry (UFMI) and Uganda Registration Service Bureau to act upon those selling Ugandan movies without a Security Device!
It’s said that UFMI and URSB don’t want locally made movies to be ‘translated’ by VJs as it doesn’t make sense because they’re acted in local languages!
They also want to promote Ugandan movies through the Buy Uganda Build Uganda (BUBU) initiative which means that there should be a reduction in burning and importing of international movies on the market.
Our efforts to reach VJ Junior hit a dead end as he wasn’t answering his phone two hours after we got the information. VJ Junior is one of the leading video jockey (VJ)’s in Uganda and is also a counselor in Kawempe.